Diving Back in!

I Seriously Just Quit My Job!!!

Why!?!? Because life is short, and I have a dream. For years now, I have wanted to be able to make a living as an artist. ( In art school they never told us that this may be an issue...) Since 2006 I have been committed to the pursuit of this dream. I have had some wonderful experiences and successes during that time.  I have owned an amazing art gallery...
( The economic downturn, however, was too much to keep it going.)

Sold my work at artist shanties...

And last summer made enough money to survive by selling hand painted souvenir-type things to tourists on Cape Cod...

I called my little venture "CAPE NATIVE"

( I am a Native Cape Codder.)

I painted Nautical Signal Flags on small canvasses. People could spell their kids names, their last names, their monograms... Or whatever. I had one Irish gentleman that decided to decorate his house in swear words, and loved these because he thought no one would know. ( Don't tell him that I told you...)

I made more money doing the latter than I did at my real job! Unfortunately, I was still  just barely surviving. If I had had more time to create, I would have been able to sell more. I was pretty much SOLD OUT of product by noon each day that I was able to go out and sell. If I had been able to create and or sell more on the days that I had been "working" I could have prospered. This past winter I took my spare time and created more product. The whole act of creating actually leads to more  Ideas. Apparently, creativity creates creativity.
( Kind of like rabbits...)

I came up with an idea for a product that I can create very quickly, and has a very high profit margin. The only drawback is that in doing this there is also this scary, awful thing called overhead. I would need capital to acquire the proper tools to be able to make this a profitable business. If I can get thus business up and running in time for summer. I will have a product that will both make me a decent yearly income, and allow me time to paint  ARTWORK through out the off-season rather than crafts.( Below is one of my paintings. you could get a hand-signed and numbered print if you choose to help!)

Why $5000.00 ?

I need to purchase a stock of canvas bags in several size and color choices. I need to purchase the embroidered signal flag patches in large enough quantity to be ready for any order at all times so that I can produce them on demand  right there in front of the customer. ( I may get 15 people or more with the same letters in there monograms in  any given day.) I also need some basic equipment to produce and sell the bags; the obligatory 10' x 10' white tent (many sales require this, and it gives my the ability to sell in any weather), a butane powered iron ( to be able to work from locations without a power supply), two heavy duty sowing awls   (strong enough to sew through canvas and patches ) One other expense are the fees that  the shows charge to be a part of them. These fees are due before the selling season starts.

If you have taken the time to read this far, I really appreciate it! Here is a photo of the product. Its is a beach bag or pocket book, depending on size, with a signal flag monogram.

This one says "ACL" that's my Mom!

You can read about my progress at:

                             

MakingaLivingasanArtist.blogger.com

This is actually my campaign on 

"Gofundme.com"

At least check it out...

Maybe, if you'd like, you could

share it with your friends.

That'd be cool!

Or you could just go buy something from:
CapeNative.com

It's Been A Long Time Coming...

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is...

As usual it has been way too long since my last post. Another long winter is winding down here on Cape Cod and I am looking forward to another great selling season. I haven't really kept you all in the loop as to how I am doing with my quest to finally make a living as an artist, so let me fill you in...

When I last left you, I was tending bar at a great little restaurant on the Cape, It gave me the flexibility and time that I needed to work on my art while making money bar tending to pay the bills. I was able to paint some commission works and sell some prints on the side. It wasn't the perfect situation, but it wasn't too bad. All good things, however, must come to an end so they say, and the great little bar is no longer there. I was sad that it had happened, but thought I may get a chance to paint all winter. Although it made me nervous, I was also kind of excited to be able to do it. It ended up that I was only unemployed for about a week. The fear of unemployment and the inability to pay my bills was always lurking beneath the surface. A job offer came in at one of the busiest places in town and I accepted it. Once again, this job quickly pushed my artwork aside. My hours suddenly crept up and the fatigue of overwork and the irregular hours of bar tending took over. The desire was there, the time and energy to do it was not. After a few months I quit... well tried to anyway. The management and I reached a compromise, I became the part-time day bar tender. My schedule was mid week; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday days. Not quite bankers hours, but hours I could work with. Because of the amount of business in this place I could pay my bills with only three shifts! This not only gave me four days to focus on my art, but FOUR DAYS IN A ROW. 

Paying my bills was one thing. But, paying for the little things in life was "a whole-nother thing". I needed to find a way to add to my income, using my art to do it was the most logical choice. For a while I had been painting American flags on shipping palettes. I would sell them here and there via Facebook and through word of mouth. I had an almost unlimited supply of palettes and I was using some cans of house paint that I had lying around to paint them, so there was virtually no over head. I looked around for a venue to sell them through and found, of all places, a flea market. There was almost no cost to me for the product and the flea market only charged $25 a day. I loaded up the truck and headed out to sell. They were a hit. My first day of selling them I made more than a week of bar tending. But, I needed to make more to sell next week. Two days of selling and I was almost out of product. Now my week consisted of two days of painting, two days of selling, and three days of bar tending. It was a lot of work, but worth it.

 The flags sold well until the 4th of July. Two things happened. First; July 4th. Apparently flag season ends on the Fourth. Everyone bought them to hang on their house or in their gardens as decoration for the fourth of July. Once the Fourth was over however, so was their patriotism. The other factor was that the tourist season was in full swing. Apparently you can't fit a flag painted on a palette in your suitcase. Flag sales tapered off and I needed another product to sell. I spent one day sitting at the flea market in the sun with people smiling and looking at my product, saying wonderful things about them, but not a soul bought one. It was a beautiful day and I got a great tan, but didn't make a dime. In fact I was out the $25 for a day at the flea market, the cost of gas and my lunch. As I sat there thinking about it all I noticed a vintage clothing booth across the aisle from me. Hanging from the end of one of the racks of clothes was an old belt with nautical shipping flags. I'm not sure how I knew them, but I could read that it was just the alphabet A-Z embroidered on the belt. I noticed it, thought nothing of it, and moved on with what was now just an afternoon of tanning myself.

A few minutes later, a family walked by. They smiled and chatted about my palette flags. The youngest child in the group loved them and asked if they could buy one, his father said," No son. It won't fit in the car when we pack to go home at the end of the week." and they moved to the next booth... the vintage clothing booth with the shipping flag belt hanging on the end of the rack. The youngest saw the belt, loved it, and asked what the symbols were. The Dad knew, but didn't know what each letter was. the kid loved it and they bought the belt for him. I was just an uninvolved bystander watching it happen, not even really thinking about it...  And then the child said," I wonder what it says. .. Wouldn't it be cool to have one that says my name?"

That's when the idea came to me!

I took four inch canvasses and started painting nautical signal flags on them. I sold them for $5 a piece. Most people would spell their kids name or their last name. Brides who were planning nautical themed weddings, bought the names of their entire wedding parties. I would paint for ten or twelve hours a day on each of my painting days and I still couldn't paint enough. I had to bring my paints and canvasses with me so that I could paint more as I ran out of letters. In the two days that I would sell, I'd make more than twice what I made in my three days of tending bar. My problem was that I couldn't keep up with demand, because of my bar tending job, but I couldn't quit my bar tending job because the selling season was going to end come Labor Day. Now I am making the bulk of my income from my art. Instead of being a bar tender who paints on the side, I'm a painter who tends bar on the side.

I'll keep you posted!

CapeNative.com

Buh Buh Buh Blinded By the Light...

                       " Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.

The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience... "

Baz Luhrmann
(Or that guy who really wrote it, whose name I forget, but apparently he gets royalties from Baz, so I guess that makes it okay...)

                        It's been far longer than I anticipated between writings. In my last post I told you about my adventures in plein air painting. Had I taken Mr. Luhrmann's aforementioned advice, this post would not be necessary and there would be, I'm sure, another blurb on my painting, perhaps a post with some photos of finished work. Unfortunately, I  did not get a painful sunburn... Not on my skin anyway. (I tan pretty well for an Irish/Swedish mutt.) Standing in the bright sun for hours and hours each of those days, staring at the sky and sea and the reflections and subtleties of the light, leaning my head out from the nice shade of my umbrella, my eyes wide open to try and take in every little detail,  what burned was not my skin at all (like some of you may have assumed by now)... But my Cornea. On Friday morning I woke up and could barley open my left eye through the glare of  the sunlight streaming through my bedroom window. It took several hours of adjustment before I could keep it open. Luckily, I work in a dark bar room. 

                       

                       It was not just the sensitivity to light that bothered me but a haze that had come over my vision. I have been bragging about my 20/15 vision for years, even if it is only in my left eye. (My right being just an average 20/20.)  By the end of my shift. I could keep the eye open while inside, but it still reflexively closed in the daylight. For the next few days I had a blurry spot high in the left corner of my eye. I made an appointment to see an Eye Doctor and that is when I realized that it wasn't just the hazy spot, but my vision in that eye was now down to 20/75 and there had been some damage in my right eye as well. The doctor assured me, after a long lecture about the importance of proper eye wear, that the haze that I was seeing was new cells repairing the damage and my vision should return, but he could not guarantee that, "at my age", it would ever go back to my 20/15.  (Yes, he said that... That son of a bitch!) 

                        So what is an artist to do? I can't wear sunglasses that will change the color of everything I see. Perhaps, through Rose colored glasses my paintings would be a bit a bit more appealing? But I really don't want to be seeing or painting for that matter something that isn't really there. My artists perspective already does that for me. So I think, maybe, a hat. Van Gogh rocked one!

                        There are several that I'm contemplating. I'd love some feed back on which you think I should wear. Here are some options:

It worked for Van Gogh, but I'm not sure that I could quite pull it off.

Classic. Sinatra and Deano would be proud.

Not sure if this one is cool, or if it screams,"Gay Cowboy!"?

There's no way.

       Anyway... I'll see you next time!

Can you guess which I went with???

Support a living artist!

CapeNative.com

Walking the Walk...

                 

                  Yesterday, I finally got out and painted. It's about time! The weather has been awful, but finally we had a nice enough day to take my well stocked "ArtCart" out for a spin. I put on my QR code T-shirt. Got the dog ready, and started to push my cart the five or so blocks to the waterfront. It's funny what you miss even with all the planning you put into things. I had to train my dog to walk next to me as I pushed the cart. He's pretty smart so that was the easiest part. Pushing my cart the first two blocks I realized that I'm no engineer! The axel that I used is threaded and although I didn't know that you could do this... I put it on backwards! As I walked the bolts were actually tightening on the wheels and it go harder and harder to push. I was tempted to turn around and call it a day. It became so hard to push that I couldn't even get it home. I eventually had to turn it around and pull it. The bolts loosened up almost instantly, and thanks to the lock nuts I had put on, they would only loosen so far... So now my pushcart is a pull cart. But it works. I got some odd looks pulling my cart across town. I'll justify it in my own mind as "visibility". At one point, I saw one of our local whack-jobs riding a bicycle with all kind of boxes and flags strapped to it and thought to myself, "what a loon." Then I realized that  people were probably thinking the same thing about me as I tried to pull my cart and walk my dog across Main St.

                     We finally got to a spot where I felt there was a perfect combination of subject matter and visibility. I set up my easels, tied up my dog and started to paint. You can see from the photos above and below that I'm only about ten to fifteen feet from the harbors edge and in the picture below you can see one of the ferries coming back from Nantucket. So the visibility is great. At one point, as I was starting to paint,  the Harbor Duck-tour was going by and I could hear a little kid exclaim,"Mommy, look at that man painting!" So, I'm pretty sure I was seen.

                     
                      There were a couple of minor glitches that I did encounter. One being that I took off my shoes to paint. Well, apparently this beautiful little park that sits right next to the Steamship Authority's Main terminal is where al those poor dogs who are either about to get on, or have just gotten off a two hour ferry ride relieve themselves (apparently, the wealthy don't scoop)... Enough said. Which leads to; Next time I should bring more rags. (and I'll leave my shoes on!)

                      Some less graphic things that I had to deal with we'll chalk up to learning experiences. I'll bring more water next time, a trash bag, and I've got to figure out a way to keep my paintings from blowing over in the wind. On that note does anyone know how to get blue paint out of Golden Retriever Fur?!?

                      One of the paintings below ... or at least from that series, I will be auctioning on Facebook starting on Monday, June 24th (2013). Friend me by clicking HERE so you can be a part of it!

                      

     
                     All in all it was a pretty decent experience. I did draw some onlookers. Some were impressed. One BITCH came walking over looked at my paintings and said,"Oh, you're just an amateur, I thought you were trying to make a living at this..."(irony is wonderful) And to her I say,"#@!!$ You, M'am!"

                    The paintings above are not finished yet so don't judge me by them, once I finish this post, I'm of to finish them and start a few more.

Support a working artist!

CapeNative.com

Applying Technology to Your Marketing Plan

QR CODES!!!

                  In my last post I mentioned a few things that as an artist trying to make a living you should have... One big one that I didn't mention is access to QR Codes. If you're not familiar with them, Google it! This is the bar code of the future.. Oh Wait, no they're already here! In an age where almost everyone has a "smart" phone, you need to make yourself accessible to them. I work as a bartender and when I look around the bar at any given point, unless the Bruins are on, about 50% of the patrons are on their smart phones. No one gets up and walks over to someone they know at the other end of the bar anymore, they just shoot them a text. On that note, most smart phone users have a scanner app. Smart phone users who have this application know when they see these codes all they have to do is scan it with their phone and they'll have instant access to information about the business, product, or person who's code they just scanned. My QR code shown above is linked directly to this blog. So when a person sees it and is curious enough to click on it, their phone will instantly open it's web browser and go to my blog. This makes it easy for people to understand just what it is that I do. I keep cards with me that have the code on them so I can show them. Those who are familiar with the codes get it and almost reflexively scan it (sometimes with a little coaxing...). Those who don't are amazed when they find out what it is and how it works.

                  To get a QR Code you can either Google; QR code generator, and do your home work, or Visit; http://www.qrstuff.com/ I just download the free one and link it to whatever address I need. You can pay a monthly fee and get all kinds of services along with it. they can track all kinds of information about who's scanning your code, where they scanned it from, yadda, yadda, yadda. If you feel you need this go ahead, but if your forwarding to sites like  blogger.com, or Fine Art America for example, they are already tracking these things for you. Why pay anything for redundant information. Use your own discretion on this. You know what you need from your QR code better than I do.

How do I use my QR Code?

                    Once you get your QR code, what can you do with it? Anything you want! I have mine on T-Shirts (and I'm getting large signs for my "Art Cart" made) so that when I'm out plein air painting people can scan it and go straight to my web site. This is great because I paint in scenic places on Cape Cod in the Summer!!! 1000's of people pass by everyday. one of the spots that I paint in is right by the docks for both of the Ferries to Nantucket. That means tons of people pass by me every day about to embark on a two hour voyage with not a heck of a lot to do... Why not give them my website or my blog to read on their trip?  I currently have it linked to this site, but am working on an online store and shopping cart and once they're up and running  I'll link one directly to that. Think about it thousands of people everyday passing my QR code... some may see it, some may not, but it puts it out there. It puts ME out there! Will everyone scan it? Of course not. Will some? Yes. Will they all look at my site and buy? Probably not. Will I get a few sales from it? I already have. Will it pay for the time and effort that I put into it? Exponentially!

                 

                  

                         If you hang a painting anywhere that it can be seen, place a QR code by it. Link it to your bio, your website, or your online store. It's going to lead to sales. It's going to lead to YOU, Making A Living As an Artist!

Prints of my latest work are available by clicking on this link!

Or you can go here:

CapeNative.com

"Buy art from a living artist... the dead ones don't need the money!"

-Max Powers

I'm Painting Again !!!

             As I mentioned in my last post, I'm getting back into it. I've started painting again. The above photo is of my latest artwork. It is SOLD. So although I'm not yet "Making a Living as an Artist", I am once again making money as an artist. The painting is a larger version of one that I did a couple of years back. The original was 10" x 8"... this was 24" x 18". (You can buy a print of it HERE.) I painted it in four layers, it really didn't take me that long to do if you subtract the time it took for the paint to dry between layers, and the procrastination. I'm not really in to scientific formulas but i believe that if there was an equation for this , it would be something like; painting x drying x 1,000,000 = procrastination....

             Another thing from my last entry is my book. Rather than just do a data dump of everything I know broken down into chapters, I've decided to take my own advice and put it into action. I'm going to document the steps that I take and make THEM my book. The biggest problem that I've had in the past is the actual creation of the art work. To get over this, I've decided to schedule my painting like it is my primary job. I have a great situation here to do this. My "real job" gives me five days off. Not actual 24 days off, but five days in a one week period where I have eight hours between 9 AM and 5 PM that I have free. So that means that I have enough time in my week to become a full-time artist.

             I have the benefit of living on Cape Cod in the Summer. Within a ten minute walk from my house is one of the busiest harbors on the Cape. Two things come out of that:

1. Subject Matter. I have decided to focus on my seascapes, skyscapes, sailboats, Lighthouses, and all things Cape Cod. ( I am going to avoid white picket fences and cottages though...) I'd like to do this without worrying about the cliche of Cape Cod Art. There are thousands of tourists every day in that area. I'd like to monopolize on that a bit and give them what they've come to see. 
2. Like I said above... There are thousands of people pouring through that area every day. So it will give me one of the key aspects of "Making a Living as an Artist"; Visibility!!! You could be the best artist on the planet, but if no one ever sees your work, how are they going to buy it?

           To paint on the waterfront for eight hours a day is a huge task. I need to be able to get eight hours worth of painting supplies to and from the area. I now have a car, but the parking situation is not ideal. To circumvent this I've come up with a plan...

My "Art Cart"!

                  I've got everything I need right here. Storage for canvasses, paints and supplies. There's an umbrella for shade. I've got a chair to take a brake in, a cooler for my lunch... It is a mobile art studio ready to go. Not to mention the fact that it may stand out a bit on the waterfront, so there's some additional visibility. Just in case there is some interest in what I'm working on, I'll also have my Square mobile card reader (Yes, that is a link. If you're trying to make a living as an artist and you don't have one, click the link and get one! Now!) You do have an iPhone, right?

                 Now you know where I'll be this Summer! I'll be posting my location on Facebook everyday (feel free to friend me if you'd like...)  so if you're in the neighborhood you can stop by and say," Hello!" Also, I'll be auctioning off a painting every week through my page. There should be some pretty good deals.

                 Thanks for reading this far! Until my next post....

Support A Working Artist!

CapeNative.com

Back At It?

                  Well, it has been a while since I've written anything here at all... I've spent almost two years just bartending and not really doing much else. Not that there's really anything wrong with being a bartender. I just have no outlet. I'm getting frustrated and bored with it. I'm supposed to be an artist. As I may have mentioned before, I have a problem holding a job and creating at the same time. Unfortunately the "responsible" part of me seems to take over and I make it to work and loose that inspiration to create. I end up in a self imposed anxious state that really just sucks...

                  I've been getting some work done however. I recently stumbled across an old series of e-mails between myself and an artist trying to get their work out there. I was pleasantly surprised by how good my suggestions were and had forgotten how much I actually know about these kinds of things. (Click Here To Read It!) So, I've started to write a book on how to make money as an artist. Yes, I really do know how. I've just forgotten the "how to be an artist" part.

                  To get my juices flowing, I've purchased some canvasses and will attempt (once again) to paint at least one painting a week, not in my usual huge 4'x 3' format, but in a smaller size that will be somewhat easier to finish in a timely manner. From there I will market myself as an artist and track it for my book. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may have noticed that a lot of my links to my own websites and stores have since expired. Mac has stopped hosting websites. So I no longer actually have one. I will be renewing or finding a new online site through which to sell both my one-of-a-kind artworks as well as signed and numbered prints. but I will both be posting links to them here, as well as documenting how I go about this for my book. So, if you care to follow along, I'd love some feedback, support, critiques, and suggestions along the way...

Below is a new artwork that I created to help get my artistic juices flowing again. Its looking more like I'll be signing this one Max Powers. 

(Buy it HERE...)

Buy Art from a living artist! The dead ones don't need the money...

CapeNative.Com

HyArts Artist Shanties... Those Aren't Fishing Shacks on the Dock

This weekend was really my first public exhibition since owning my Gallery. For those of you just joining us: I showed at the HyArts Artist Shanties on the waterfront in Hyannis, MA. I worked long and hard getting a large enough body of to artwork to show and feel good about. I really wanted to  "WOW". The Universe works in funny ways. Two days before the show started (Wednesday),  I received an e-mail re-directed from my online store. A woman had seen my work online, liked it and wanted to know how many  originals I had available. I told her what I had and she bought them all sight unseen and had me run them down to Fed Ex and send them out immediately. I did so, photographing them first. It took two trips on my Bicycle to get them all to the Fed Ex office. She was the mother of the bride and wanted them as gifts for the entire wedding party. I was really excited. Ten paintings in one day! I gave her a deal since she bought so many. Friday morning I received an e-mail from her saying that she loved them all and thanking me for my quick response. The wedding was on Saturday. Nothing like last minute... I can't really fault her for her last minute action. First of all, I, myself, had just finished them... For a show that was starting in two days mind you. Secondly, She bought them from me!

Okay , so now it's Wednesday afternoon, I have a show starting in two days, and I'm down the ten paintings that I was going to showcase. What the (heck) do I do now. Prints! I grabbed my camera, with the pictures that I just sold still on the card, and attached the USB to my computer and down loaded the pics. My camera and computer are set to erase the card after down loading.... Some how the USB cable disconnected during the download. The pictures didn't make it onto my hard drive but the camera thought that they had and erased them from the card. Two weeks of work down the drain! I don't charge too much for my work, mostly because the real money is not in the originals, but in the prints. For artists reading this, remember, the odds of finding a buyer for a $500 painting are not really that great.  How many people actually get to see that painting? 100? Maybe 200? Now put that picture online and up that number to 1000... If your lucky... Out of those, how many like it enough to own it? Then, how many of those that like it enough to own it, actually have the $500.00??? Now lets make some prints. It is easier to sell a matted print for $10 dollars than it is to sell the painting for $500. You can find a printer that will charge about $1per print, and your still making $9/ print. Sign and number them and you can charge more, lets say $25. find ten people to buy them and you've made $240... and you still own the original which is potentially worth more the more prints of it that are sold.  With todays technology you can buy a decent printer and print them yourself for even less, and providing that you find the right outlet, a cash cow could be born. Some artists may think I'm selling out here, but remember, my goal is to make a living doing what I love doing! Picasso said,"Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, A dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time." I once sold a painting for $30.00 that has made me hundreds in sales of its prints. (Click here to see and own it!) Now, all that being said, I ended up selling my artwork for way too little, and can't reap the benefits of repeat sales through prints. But, live and learn. There are now ten more people out there that know I'm an artist and own my work so it wasn't in vane.

That was a bit of a tangent... So the weather This weekend was probably too nice on Friday and Saturday and too cold on Sunday to get any real traffic through. But hey, this is Cape Cod, so what did I expect? Right? And... Given the weather we've been having it's amazing that it wasn't raining. I managed to sell a few works originals and prints alike. So I'm happy about that.

All-in-all I think my Shanty looked pretty full I scraped together some of my not-so-Capey stuff, which actually received a pretty warm response from the tourist crowd which I thought would be more into my  landscapes, seascapes, and skyscapes. I also managed to find a printer in Hyannis that really stepped up to the plate and dropped everything to help me out of my dilemma. So thank you to the folks over at Minute Man Press on Barnstable Rd. (tell them Greg from CapeNative sent you.) for putting in a little overtime and knowing what the heck they were talking about. (I will no longer even think about getting anything done at Staples... They were so easy to deal with and came out considerably cheaper...)Also, If your interested in selling prints of your work, you're going to need to mount them, mat them, and wrap them. So you may want to check-out Documounts, they have some really affordable starter packages.

 (Documounts is gone  and I haven't found a decent replacement yet...  let me know if you have in the comments please...)

I learned a lot about doing these kind of shows this weekend and I'll be back next weekend with a slightly tweaked business plan and some new artwork.  So, if you find yourself in Hyannis between 11AM and 5 PM, Friday through Monday, Memorial Day weekend, stop by and check it out!